NO
TO THE PROFANATION OF OUR HOLY PLACES
BY CHILD MURDERERS
A statement by Mikis Theodorakis
 Thank you, Mr Bush! |
There is
no greater callousness and immorality than the discussion going on about
post-war Iraq. |
A monstrous
attitude that tarnishes the moral values Europe is supposed to
be founded on and on which the European Union is now to be extended.
It no longer exists, the European Union! The European Union was
murdered by Bush, Blair and Aznar, when they decided upon their
barbarous invasion of Iraq, which means the negation of the
quintessence of Europe as a moral entity respecting
international law and the rights of populations.
After that, it was stigmatised by the decision of the candidate
countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia
and Hungary) together with the governments of Italy, Portugal,
Holland and Denmark to collaborate in this criminal action.
So what Europe are we speaking of? On 16 April, the day when Athens is
set to celebrate the 25-State Europe, there will be tens of thousands of
civilian dead and wounded in Iraq, incalculable destruction.
Why? What are the moral principles and human values that half the
governments of Europe defended alongside the USA in Iraq? On the basis
of what human, national or international right did they invade a
country without reason and bomb it to rubble, sowing suffering
and destruction?
And what relations can we, the Greeks, have with those who murder women
and children in cold blood, knowing that this is being done, firstly,
to let America’s leaders share the petrol supplies between them, and secondly,
to turn Iraq into an American protectorate that will control by force
of arms the whole Middle East.
For what reason should we, the Greeks, coexist with perceptions and
practices that until now we have considered morally unjustifiable, for
which we have shed our blood to eliminate them from the globe?
Our Europe, the one that conforms to our own principles and history, is
the Europe of Peace, the Rule of International Law, the Respect of the
Sovereign Rights of all the people of this world without any exception,
and above all, the Respect of Human Life and Human Values.
Greece has never in its recent history coexisted with ideologies and
practices that ride roughshod over these inviolable moral principles and
slaughter innocent peoples and innocent individuals.
The Greek Government offends us by using the pretext of a non-existent
European Union, which in reality serves to exculpate governments that
have the blood of Iraq’s innocent children on their hands.
The Greek people – if they really agree with these principles – will
have to demonstrate their will through their deeds.
Athens, 9.4.2003
Mikis Theodorakis
English translation: © Ariel Wagner-Parker